JCSSS is a refereed journal published annually by the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies Inc. (CSSS), located at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. JCSSS contains the transcripts of public lectures presented at the CSSS and possibly other articles and book reviews. JCSSS focuses on the vast Syriac literature, which is rooted in the same soil from which the ancient Mesopotamian and biblical literatures sprung; on Syriac art that bears Near Eastern characteristics as well as Byzantine and Islamic influences; and on archaeology, unearthing in the Middle East and the rest of Asia and China the history of the Syriac-speaking people: Assyrians, Chaldeans, Maronites and Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs. Modern Syriac Christianity and contemporary vernacular Aramaic dialects are also the focus of JCSSS. The languages of the Journal are English, French and German, and quotations from ancient sources are given in the original languages and in translation. The articles are interdisciplinary and scholarly; the Editorial Committee brings together scholars from four American, Canadian, and European universities. The CSSS that publishes JCSSS was founded in 1999 at the University of Toronto, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, as part of the latter’s academic programme in Aramaic and Syriac languages and literatures. It was incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act in January 23, 1999.

Volume 1 includes the following articles: “The Dispute Poem: From Sumer to Syriac” by Sebastian Brock, “Recent Archaeological Excavations in Takrit and the Discovery of Syriac Inscriptions” by Amir Harrak, “Takritans in the Egyptian Desert: The Monastery of the Syrians in the Ninth Century” by Lucas van Rompay and Andrea B. Schmidt, “Mar Tadros, Bahdeidat: Paintings in a Lebanese Church from the Thirteenth Century” by Erica C. Dodd, and “A Christian Heritage on the Northern Silk Road: Archaeological and Epigraphic Evidence of Christianity in Kyrgyzstan” by Wassilios Klein.

• The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies (page 5)
• FROM THE EDITOR (page 7)
• THE DISPUTE POEM: FROM SUMER TO SYRIAC (page 9)
• NOTES (page 15)
• RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN TAKRIT AND THE DISCOVERY OF SYRIAC INSCRIPTIONS (page 17)
• Notes (page 34)
• TAKRITANS IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERT: THE MONASTERY OF THE SYRIANS IN THE NINTH CENTURY (page 47)
• NOTES (page 60)
• MAR TADROS,BAHDEIDAT. PAINTINGS IN A LEBANESE CHRUCH FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY (page 67)
• NOTES (page 76)
• FIGURS (page 77)
• A CHRISTIAN HERITAGE ON THE NORTHERN SILK ROAD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY IN KYRGYZSTAN (page 91)
• NOTES (page 99)
• THE CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR SYRIAC STUDIES (page 107)